Burning Man is the first episode of season 7 of Malcolm in the Middle.
Synopsis
The Wilkerson family goes to Burning Man and everyone does something new there.
Plot
In the boys room, Malcolm and Reese are discussing going to the Burning Man festival. Dewey isn't convinced since they both have made up so many excuses not to go in past years (including a Slurpee headache) so much it has become routine. But this time Reese and Malcolm commit to their plans and write down a note on the toilet paper roll. When Hal and Lois discover Malcolm and Reese's plan to sneak off and hitchhike to the festival, they catch them and bring them home. Although ready to punish them, Malcolm and Reese give an eloquent description of the festival and everything it represents and they decide that the entire family should go. They take off in an RV Hal borrowed from his boss due to his boss owing him a favor, emphasizing to Dewey that the RV is worth more than himself. Reese attempts to sneak out to avoid being seen with his parents thinking he can survive in the desert and that the Road Runner cartoons apply to real life. Once they arrive in the Black Rock Desert, Reese and Malcolm shimmy under the RV and take off. With the older boys gone, Dewey is forced, by Hal, to do work to keep the RV he borrowed from his boss in tip-top shape firstly getting large rocks for a perimeter around the RV from the entrance to the desert.
Malcolm and Reese explore the bizarre things people are doing until Reese wanders off and Malcolm injures himself after he steps on a small cactus. Reese asks a man where the topless girls are and how uninterested he is in uggas or blimps. He leads him there while spraying people with a water gun full of "Stanley". Reese ask him what Stanley is he explains that Stanley was a friend of his who passed on over the winter and that he filled the gun with Stanley's ashes because he embraced the spirit of burning man and wanted his ashes spread this way. Reese is in awe since he once got detention for putting a mouses head on the end of his pencil and realizes he now has the freedom to truly express himself.
The people at Burning Man think that Hal is part of a performance art show. Lois gets in touch with her artistic side. Reese embraces every aspect of Burning Man. Malcolm gets injured and meets a woman named Anita whom he falls for.
Trivia
- The Burning Man festival actually exists. Burning Man is an annual event held in the Black Rock Desert, in Northern Nevada. It takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on Saturday evening. The event is described by many participants as an experiment in community, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance. As suggested by Reese, nudity is not uncommon at the event.
- Malcolm loses his virginity in this episode to a woman named Anita.
- Lois dyes her food green and serves it to the family. Hal says "Green eggs and toast? I do not like green eggs and toast." This is a reference to the Dr. Seuss book, Green Eggs and Ham.
- Reese starts hunting for animals and says "I know what you're thinking. The roadrunners are too smart to catch and eat, but the coyotes are idiots." Reese is apparently taking life lessons from Looney Tunes, specifically the Road Runner cartoons and assuming that roadrunners and coyotes act the same way they do in the TV show when it comes to hunting.
Quotes
- [Lois and Hal have just busted Reese and Malcolm in their attempt to hitchhike to Burning Man]
- Lois: HITCHHIKING! HITCHHIKING ON THE HIGHWAY LIKE HOBOS!
- [After Malcolm inadvertently convinces Hal and Lois to go to Burning Man]
- Lois: What a great idea, Malcolm! [Reese glares at Malcolm]
- Reese: [sarcastically] Yeah, maybe next year, we can take Grandma to Mardi Gras!
- Malcolm: You think I enjoy having powers I can't control?! Believe me, I'd much rather be as stupid as you are!
- Reese: Don't try sucking up to me now!
- Malcolm: Reese, we're in the middle of the desert.
- Reese: I know what you're thinking. The road runners are too smart to catch and eat, but the coyotes are idiots.
- Lois (while topless): Reese, you behave yourself. You hear me?
- (Reese stares at Lois shocked)